A HUGG – The Best Gift To Yourself?

OK, so I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here… The theme for January is GOALS. But it’s always nice to think about our goals a little BEFORE the end of the year don’t you think? And I love HUGGS…

So, a HUGG is simply a Huge Unbelievably Great Goal…

They’re the huge goals that get us really excited – they’re so inspiring that we willingly go to great lengths to achieve them.

And HUGGS are easier to achieve than you might think. Why? Because a HUGG excites us so much that we actually enjoy thinking about and working towards it – we might even enjoy planning how we get there. And with a little bit of a push, we might actually TAKE action instead of just thinking about it…

A HUGG actually breaks many “goal-setting rules” because it’s often vague and without a specific deadline. Examples of HUGGS could be moving to a new country, travelling the world for 3 years, starting a charity, entirely changing careers and getting a book published. Other HUGG factors include:

They should be 5-25 years away

They should align strongly with your values

They may seem impossible at first, but they become more real and possible as time passes, often being achieved earlier than you expected or in unexpected ways…

You feel GREAT or excited when you think about your HUGG

As time passes, it helps to get more specific about your HUGG, but first you need to have one!

Creating your own HUGG: Take 20-30 minutes to yourself, somewhere comfortable and relaxing and brainstorm. Ask, “What do I really, REALLY want?”, “What would really inspire and excite me?”, “What would I happily work my ass off to achieve?” Make a list of 10-30 items and circle 1-3 of then that you’d like to ‘hold’ onto in your life. Now write these 1-3 items on a piece of card and put it in your wallet. You can also write them on post-its and put them somewhere you will see them regularly – your fridge, computer monitor, bathroom mirror etc.

Alternatively – create a Vision Board. Simply cut out pictures and write words and quotes that represent your dream life. You could even have a Vision Board ‘party’ with friends! And now put your Vision Board somewhere you will see it regularly.

Once you have your HUGG, start taking small actions. Research – the internet is ideal for this! Ask questions. Read books/memoirs or watch a film of people who’ve done what you want to do. Hang out with people who’ve done what you want to do. Start small!

Small, steady action is all you need. One of my favourites quotes is, “We rise to great heights by a winding staircase of small steps” Francis Bacon.

My previous HUGGS include changing career (IT Project Manager -> Life Coach), moving to another country (Canada, from the UK) and most recently moving to Salt Spring Island.

My next HUGGs? To get a book published. To make enough money from my writing and coaching tools for both Duncan and I to live on. To be an artist – photography maybe. To do something in the charitable world – for the elderly or the homeless. Become a vegetarian (I like meat!).

Share your HUGGS with us below! We LOVE to hear what you’re thinking
so just comment and leave a reply below!

My latest HUGG was moving to Salt Spring Island and it went on my Vision Board at the end of 2005. At that time we were thinking a move to Salt Spring was realistically 5-10 years away (so a perfect HUGG).

So, before we got carried away we wanted to make sure it was ‘doable’. And so every time we visited Salt Spring we would look at properties – everything from the cheapest and smallest holiday cottages to actual homes. Then, on Valentine’s weekend in 2007 we decided we’d looked at enough homes, house prices were affordable compared to North Vancouver and we’d just look at a final two homes that weekend.

Well, that was it. We fell in love. Over the last year we’d been getting to know the island and what we wanted from a home. It had to be 3+ acres so we could have a ‘legal’ guest cottage. It needed to have a high flow-rate well or be on mains water. We wanted to be within 10 minutes drive of Ganges. We wanted to have at least 1-2 acres of land we could grow food on. We did NOT want to be on a busy main road (cats and noise). We wanted a small home (less housework, more environmentally friendly!). We wanted something (cheaper) that would free up some equity from our home in North Vancouver.

So, when we looked around on our Valentine weekend away, we knew this was the place. I remember using our cellphone as a calculator as we estimated mortgage payments, budgets and made calculations. We went for a second look on Sunday, put in an offer and raced to get the ferry back to Vancouver.

At the time, the plan was to buy it and rent it out until we moved there. But as our excitement grew, so did our ideas to go and live there earlier than we had planned. 5-10 years became 3-5 years, which became 2-3 years. And in reality it took only 18 months.

It wasn’t easy. In that 18 months I worked my socks off – networking, coaching, building coaching tools, doing seminars and workshops. Duncan did a lot of travel with work and we were tired a lot of the time. But it didn’t matter. It felt good. And now we’re here and I’m happier than I have ever been. Worth going for don’t you think?

4 comments to A HUGG – The Best Gift To Yourself?

Ok so i over analysed and spent some quality time fretting over HUGGS. Then I took a deep breathe and actually followed the instructions (I know – would have been far easier if I had just done this to begin with, but then I wouldn’t be the complex being that I am 🙂 ).

First I struggled with the time frame, then the values and finally the possibility of the goals – but yesterday I got it! I am so excited by my realizations of what I actually want to do in the coming decade and how it aligns with my core values that I haven’t been able to sleep and have researched it all to death but have a plan 🙂 I have an action plan of small achievable steps on how I will be achieving my goals – how exciting!!!

Something I think we all need to do more of is taking some action to achieve our goals and realise our dreams, instead of what we often do which is talk about it. 4 years ago my sister and I stopped talking about event planning and finally took some action – those small steps we started to take have now evolved into not only a successful business which is fun – but we are able to nurture our souls through this creative outlet which has come about simply because we stopped talking 🙂

I also have a vision journal – a big one, a board just wouldn’t be enough for me.

What a gorgeous caiotern… Love the paper, the fibers, the glass beads, the metal charm and I especially love what you did with the “LOVE YOU”… You did a fantastic job on all of the challenges.. Thanks so much for playing along with us in the Creative Belli Challenge… 🙂